Drilling out Gun Barrels

[Warsmith Uveron]

All, 

 

I have been remiss and haven't been diligent in drilling out all my gun barrels on my chaos space marines. It is something i will have to fix. 

 

Can anyone recommend a location to get many sizes of drill bits for a dremel so I can fix this problem! And what Size bits will I need. 

[Grotsmasha]

I believe 1-1.5mm drill bit is the size for boltgun barrels, any decent hardware shop should have you covered.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Gurth]

Measure the diameter of the weapons you want to drill out and buy bits that are maybe 2/3 or 3/4 the size. Measuring quickly, bolter barrels are about 2 mm diameter, so call it 1.5 mm bits should work fine.

 

Oh, wait, you’re in the USA, so you’ll need those Merican “gauges” … Here you go: you need a 53.

[Redrandy93]

Brother,

 

You may need to go to a model or rail road hobby shop to get that size drill bit.   Also for drilling in plastic I would use a pin vise to drill out the barrel so you do not damage it.    You could go to Hobby Tools, Dremel and Lemax Headquarters - eHobbyTools.com      to order the pin vise and drill bits.

 

Hope this helps your tech marine.

[Acebaur]

Testors makes a pin vise set that comes with several drill bits. I've found those to be perfect for bolters.

[deathspectersgt7]

If you have a dremel , Lowells, Ace hardware,Home Depot will have what you are looking for.

[Acebaur]

I would strongly advise against using a dremel. Even at the lowest speed setting they spin very fast and it would be extremely easy to miss and drill the whole barrel apart. Pin vice is the way to here IMO. 

[Urauloth]

I personally recommend against using powered drills on plastic minis and particularly for this task, but I know it works for some people. I say pick yourself up one of Tamiya's excellent pin vices if you have the opportunity, though.

 

Boltguns and bolt pistols (especially the latter) vary quite a lot in barrel size across different kits (and sometimes within the same kit, in the older ones) so a range of drill bits is useful. You'll never need smaller than 1mm, though, and 1mm is good as a guide hole for the others. As a couple of people already noted, 1.5mm is a good size to have in your toolkit, with a size or two inbetween. Some meltaguns might benefit from 1.65mm or so, but it's been a while since I worked with any and I don't remember.

 

A set that runs smaller could be a good investment as well if you want to add extra detail to your minis, as although gun barrels are the most important thing, they're certainly not the only thing that can benefit from drilling out - particularly on CSM, where you have things like the exhausts on chainswords and combi-meltas. (please don't do that with a dremel)

[MagicMan]

Always worth scoring a little hole in the centre of the barrel with a sharp Xacto knife first, just to guide the drill bit after. Its very easy to place the drill bit off centre by accident. :)

[Graymane]

Always worth scoring a little hole in the centre of the barrel with a sharp Xacto knife first, just to guide the drill bit after. Its very easy to place the drill bit off centre by accident.

This. But personally i use a drawing pin (the type with the longer 'handle')

And as various others have already said, i would strongly recommend use a pin vice drill for something this precise.

[Urauloth]

I find a pin better than a knifepoint, personally.

 

edit; this is why you don't leave the reply window open while you go feed your cat and brew a cuppa. ;) Severely beaten to this, but yeah, what Argentius said.

[Stercus]

I'd also add that it pays when drilling bolters to do the muzzle hole first, before you drill the side vents out. I've found the plastic splits less often that way.

[Daevyll]

I'd also add that it pays when drilling bolters to do the muzzle hole first, before you drill the side vents out. I've found the plastic splits less often that way.

 

Golden tip. I've discoverd this too, to my cost ;)

[Acebaur]

I'd also add that it pays when drilling bolters to do the muzzle hole first, before you drill the side vents out. I've found the plastic splits less often that way.

See I've never had an issue with this. I always do my side vents first and have never had the muzzle split

[Stercus]

I must be drilling with excess zeal.

[Lucien Eilam]

I'm a firm proponent of drilling gun barrels, but you don't have to do the full length of the barrel and the side vents so you can see daylight through it.

 

For most purposes it looks just as good if done to a depth of 1-2mm, enough to take some deep black shading, and leave the sides alone. Most barrels that are cast "hollow" go no farther than that, and still look great.

[Acebaur]

I'm a firm proponent of drilling gun barrels, but you don't have to do the full length of the barrel and the side vents so you can see daylight through it.

 

For most purposes it looks just as good if done to a depth of 1-2mm, enough to take some deep black shading, and leave the sides alone. Most barrels that are cast "hollow" go no farther than that, and still look great.

 

I disagree, I think that drilling both the front and sides is a significant improvement over just doing the front.